The Hat

Sunday, September 28, 2008
As we all know how cold it can get up here in the North (at least those of us who live up here know what I am talking about :-) ) going outside can be a tad painful. No matter how many layers you stick on your head, your ears always freeze up turning red and then burning for hours later (I know, I could just pull the hood of my parka up, but then my glasses fog up and I can't see where I am going).

A couple of weeks ago I figured well, I like my ears. I want to keep my ears. So, I begun my search for an earflap hat. There were none here in town :-( and none to be found anywheres else either. Bummer. Right?

Since I already knit most of my hats (nice ribbed watch hats) I figured well, I might as well take a crack at knitting an earflap hat. It was an experiment - had no idea what I was doing. Luckily there were a couple of free patterns online (here and here and here) that I adapted and I did eventually wind up with my earflap hat. It's not quite perfect, as there are a couple of adjustments that I still need to do when I begin knitting the next one (once my wool arrives), but for a first time earflap hat knitter, I didn't do too shabby.



And for anyone who is looking for an online store to order wool from (cause we all know how much of a pain it can be finding it up North) there are two places that I found that have reasonable shipping charges and they ship to the North! (which is a biggie!).

Yarn Forward - a knitting / crochet supply store out of Ontario (really good selection of wools in a variety of colors) who was originally a mail-order online knitting retailer that has branched out into two retail stores as well.

Wool Trends - a great store out of Newfoundland that has a variety of wools.

Mary Maxim Canada - a nice online store for all your knitting and craft needs. Has really good shipping rates.

Herrschners Canada - another good online store for all of your knitting and craft needs.

5 comments:

Matt, Kara, Hunter and Cavan said...

That is super cute!

Kennie said...

hehe - thanks. And it keeps my head and ears nice and warm too :-)

Rob, Tina and the boys said...

I love it. There is a place in Meadow Lake that I will be visiting that has a lot of wool at really cheap prices. Let me know when you need more and I can get some for you and send it from here. It would be a lot cheaper than online shipping for sure, and the postage paid envelopes at the post office can hold a lot!

Kennie said...

Excellent! I will definitely send you a note when I need more. My mitten maker is off hunting (go figure) so I'm now searching for another mitten maker ... got to love it when they disappear to go hunting as there is a ton of Narwals in the bay right now.

Jennith said...

lol... you've been an excellent resource the last couple of days. :D - online drug store and now online wool stores. I just finished a pair of socks (soon to be displayed as FO's on my blog, but my card for my camera was still in my reader this morning.) Briggs and Little have an excellent mitten pattern. (From NB) I also have a book - Teach yourself to knit visually - that gives you the basics for nearly anything you'd want to knit and then teaches you how to adjust for sizing or different finishes.